"Run! They mustn't catch you!" I yelled as we passed through the dense forest into a wide expanse.
The rising sun blinded us, but only for a moment. In front of us laid a wide grassland with bumps occurring every so often, blocking the area that laid behind where we might be guided safely.
If only we could make it...! My thoughts turned back to the horse I rode as I feel the strength of the stallion weaken from the escape through the forest.
"Gah!" The sweet, familiar voice yelled out from behind as I heard the rustle of a bush. "I would've appreciated it if we phased dimensionally away from our pursuers!" The familiar silhouette of her red hood came into view as she forced her horse to catch up.
"We need to bait them over, or else Gareth and the men won't be able to trap them," I explained again as we approach a bend that would mark our journey through the hills. Shadows loomed over the passage as the sky turned into a gradient of light blue to navy.
I looked back and spotted the enemies stampeding through the bushes the princess had passed. They were only 10 men strong with a few tracking hounds, but what made them terrifying were the bloodlust they exuded. With red eyes almost glowing like a cat's, the air seemed to warp in their presence, as if the world was overweighted by their being. I couldn't help fearing what they would do to us if we failed our task.
"They're coming aren't they?" Her hood fell, and I could see the traces of her sandy blonde hair, once golden, shining as bright as the stars in the night sky as darkness shielded otherworldly eyes from the world of Areth until fear overshadowed the brightness her heart bore.
Rounding the bend, we could sense the pursuers closing in even without a glance. The sky was dark, the shadow of the world overbearing, and suddenly everything seemed impossible. "We can do this! We can!" A rush of adrenaline snapped my perspective away from the depression I fell to.
She has to survive! Our child has to!
We rushed through the twists and turns, impatience incarnated as the sound of reins snapping. We're almost there!
A gleam of silver, bright as the hope it gave as it marked the point of ambush several hundreds of meters away. "We could make it--" A sob cut off her words as tears flowed down her cheeks. I dared not look, instead getting a glimpse of those who were to be trapped.
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Thud! Thud! Thud! The thunderous hooves of the tracking hounds reverberated through the hill sides. They were so close to us now. Thoughts flashed past my mind as my heart skipped a beat at the look of the pursuer's face, lips welded together by an amalgam of what seemed like machinery and breathing mask fused.
Before my eyes could lurk to their eyes, I turned back to face the front. "Hya!"
"We're--- almost--- Hic!" Her hands loosened, the reins slipping from her fingers as she fell backwards from the horse galloping forward. For a moment, I locked eyes with her crystalline blue eyes that shone like jewels. Time passed, but it felt like a lifetime passed when I realise I was off my mount as well, hands ready to catch her as she fell to the ground. I thought I could hear our pursuers snicker as we landed on the cold, hard dirt road.
"Ahh!" We tumbled, her in my hands as she tried but failed to protect me from the fall. I could hear her whimpering as the thunderous hooves landed right beside my head, encircling us just as death loomed over our heads.
The hideous owners of the hounds stepped down from their mounts, walking with a solemnness to deliver a painful death to me and a lifetime of suffering to my soon-to-be wife, but no pain could be greater than seeing the once flushed cheeks of the one in my arms turn into a pained whining from what was to happen.
"Hush, it'll be alright," I cooed into her ears, stroking her shoulder as I had done so for the millionth time. Her skin was soft and smooth to touch, yet it was too cold to say she was healthy. "Don't be afraid, everything will be just fine." I whispered as I stroke her hair while looking around for a last ditch attempt to turn the tables.
Yet, a force as sudden as a hammer hitting a nail struck my chin, followed by another sharp jab into my solar plexus which threw me into the air. I gasped, but couldn't breathe. That was when I realised the left side of my body was weak and my right hand was hammering the centre of my chest. A quick but painful death...
As my vision began to narrow while my breathing was shallow, the surroundings were bright enough to see again, yet in my hand was the silver coin used as the mark for the trap to activate. My head swerved back to see our pursuers now choking the life out of my sobbing fiancé's body as it quivered to a still.
Pressure built in my chest as I could feel the heat beginning to leave my body. Without a heart beating, my body would die from suffocation. Despite that, I felt my cheeks wet for the first time in years as my body fell to the ground. I couldn't feel the solidness of the coin anymore, as my bodily sensations numbed and my fingers no longer felt like mine.
Strangely enough, I could feel dust blow onto my arms as my narrowed vision was now as wide as a single horizontal slit. I could not hear, the ringing in my ears deafening now, blocking every sound from being processed; I could not feel, my nerves burning out like flickering bulbs, but mostly, a crushing abyss has settled onto my chest, gradually increasing in weight as all thoughts couldn't even be completed.
Yet, one thought persisted.
I will be dead.